HC Deb 29 March 1955 vol 539 c18W
90. Mr. Hale

asked the Minister of Labour to give instructions for a special investigation of the amount of short-time in the Lancashire industrial area and particularly the cotton industry, in view of the fact that figures taken on one day of the week only may give a misleading view.

Mr. Watkinson

The short-time which is at present being worked in the cotton industry in the North-Western Region is already being kept under close review. There is no reason to suppose that the numbers of temporarily stopped workers registered at employment exchanges on the day when the count of the unemployed is made do not reflect trends in short-time working.